Immortals
by N.V.9
Summary: We all wish to have that one person that would make our world complete. And if we find it will we allow ourselves to keep it? Sasuke is forced to make this choice, especially when it's a human that calls to him. COMPLETE


**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

**A/N: Fast pace one-shot because I don't need another multi-chapter on my plate.**

He stood in awe, his body unresponding as he met the other's gaze. The beauty they held within, the life, the endless oceans of blue just watching him back unblinkingly. Minutes, hours, years...all of them could have gone by and never would they have crossed his mind. He wouldn't even realize when one season passed to another or when the moon went down to reveal the sun. Time froze in his world. Froze in both of their worlds.

"Do you need help?" the other ask him, his raspy voice breaking the spell briefly.

Nodding, Sasuke held out his suitcase, allowing the other to take it from him. He watched as the fluid muscle moved beneath the black t-shirt, the tan covering everything beyond it, and most likely within it. He watched that strong hand reaching to take his bag, the hand grazing over his own, sending a whisp of lightning up his arm and to his heart.

And when the other hand of the taller man reached down to grasp his arm, helping him from the floor where he had fallen, Sasuke leaned toward him, almost as if he was giving himself away, waiting for something. He couldn't, for the life of him, remember how he had fallen to the ground as he exited the elevator, but he'd gladly do it again if this man was waiting for him on the other side.

"You don't seem injured." his blonde savior finally said, releasing him with relunctance clear on his face and body. "Would you like help to your room?"

"Yes," Sasuke said without hesitating, unable to look away from the other's face. Wanting those beautiful eyes to always stay upon him. Over the two hundred years he had lived, nothing could compare to this moment. This need to have the other close. This want of his, an ache that demanded to be soothed. Was it evolution finally telling them to find someone outside their world? Outside the world of Immortals? No it couldn't be. His Father had told him countless times that Immortals only craved each other. Would always crave eachother. He wasn't supposed to want a human to the point of death. Wasn't supposed to see them beyond food, but he saw this one clearly. "This way." he added, taking a few steps toward his hotel room, walking side ways to keep the other in his view. To see him walk like a preditor that he couldn't be. Keeping their gazes locked in a game that neither could seem to end.

It wasn't long before they came to his room, and seconds later the door was open, Sasuke holding the door for the other to enter. What was happening to him? Unable to find a reason why he shouldn't do this, Sasuke watched the taller, broader man rest his suitcase against a chair. Watched as the other turned toward him, three steps bringing him to a stop in front of him. "Thank you."

With a nod, the man made no move to leave, made not even a sound when the door was released and allowed to swing shut. Instead, his arms wrapped themselves around Sasuke's waist as Sasuke's own went around the other's neck, his fingers digging into the silkly blonde hair, pulling the taller man down for a kiss. Sasuke wasn't sure who started the kiss, whether it was him or the other but he didn't care. The kiss was desperate, almost as if they were drowning. It was demanding, hot, and beautiful. With each touch of the other's lips against his own, Sasuke found himself unable to see why this shouldn't be.

The breeze from the open window on his bare skin sent tingles down his spine, but he didn't mind in the least, his hands happily glidding over the other's bare back. When the back of his legs connected against the bed, he allowed himself to be lowered. Allowed himself to be loved.

The sound of their groans echoed throughout the room, the creaking of the bed building with the speed they worked up. The pain that should have been, wasn't. The pleasure building off of them only overpowering everything else. With his thighs clenced around the other's waist, and his hands holding the other close, Sasuke cried his pleasure into the world, begging for it to never end.

_**' -' **_

"Hello?" Sasuke yawned tiredly into the phone, resting contently above the warm body beneath him. He wasn't sure how long it had been, wasn't sure what day it was anymore. The only thing he knew was that he was...sated and relaxed. He long forgot why he had left his nest, why he had ran from his family. His lover beneath him making every worry disappear with a touch of his hand, a look in his eyes. Never in his life had Sasuke felt so carefree. So...happy. Kissing his lover's chest, he smiled gently when he felt fingers run through his hair.

"Sasuke?" Itachi said on the other side, his voice sounding relieved. "Where are you? I've been calling you for three days. You disappeared and I thought something happened-"

"I'm fine, Itachi." Sasuke cut him off arching into Naruto's touch. Having only learned his name when his lover wished him to scream it out. He knew that should have been a problem, should have bothered him, but he didn't really care. Couldn't find himself to care. "I needed a vacation." he answered distractedly as Naruto flipped them over, kissing gentle love bites down his chest. "Ohhh..." he moaned in bliss, spreading his thighs wider to adjust to Naruto's size.

"Sasuke?"

"Don't worry about me, brother." Sasuke got out as his body arched off the bed, the breath leaving his body in one big rush. Without so much as a good-bye, Sasuke hung up the phone, dropping it on the floor without a care as his fingers wormed their way through Naruto's hair between his thighs. "Nar...oooh god." he panted a smile spreading over his face. Feeling his lover's finger press at his entrance, Sasuke forced his body to the bed, pulling Naruto up by his shoulders for a kiss. On his lover's lips he could taste himself. "Now, Naruto." he demanded between kisses.

"Yes, Moonbeam." Naruto responded, doing just that.

_**' -' **_

"So tell me, Moonbeam." Naruto asked, feeding Sasuke a piece of strawberry dipped in chocolate. "why you came to Las Vegas?"

"Freedom to do as I want." Sasuke answered smugly, holding Naruto's hand in place as he licked every drop of chocolate off his fingers, enjoying the flash of desire that never seem to fade from Naruto's blue eyes. Even now, six days after he had arrived in a city filled with sin and little else, Sasuke was as bare as the day he was born, his lover exactly the same. In six days, they had done little to explore the city and instead kept to eachother's bodies. Naruto only left once, to bring his bag from his own room, but after that, he hardly left Sasuke's side, his delectable body always bringing pleasure to Sasuke's own. "To escape a world of order and-"

"Join a world of damnation?" Naruto chuckled, leaning close to lick Sasuke's own tongue.

Laughing, Sasuke threw his arms around Naruto's neck, kissing him. "To find what can't be seen." he whispered moments later, leaning back to look Naruto in the eyes, enjoying the way he was the only sight of the beautiful man above him.

"A never ending process, then." Naruto grinned, his eyes filled with peace and laughter, filled with tenderness for him. So filled with emotions that it threw Sasuke off a bit. Immortals, mostly the old, had no feelings, the young had theirs but it faded in time. Only those with mates tended to laugh more, to enjoy life and everything around them. Sasuke wasn't old enough to lose emotions, and he never wanted to get old enough if it meant losing everything he was having with Naruto.

In the back of Sasuke's mind, he wondered what would happen if the world knew he had fallen at first sight for a human? Then it truly hit him, it wouldn't matter if he mated a human, in the end he'd break his own heart. Humans didn't live forever. Every day Naruto would age. He'd lose the flawless skin and golden hair, gaining wrinkles. He'd notice that Sasuke wasn't changing, that he'd always look like a man in his mid-twenties. Just thinking of Naruto wrinkled and hunched over with age brought tears to his eyes. He couldn't lose Naruto, not like that. And to see his lover in a casket of all things...god, his heart couldn't take it.

"Moonbeam?" Naruto whispered, a frown marring his face. "Sasuke?"

"I'm fine." Sasuke forced a smile, hugging Naruto close, his lover's lips resting against his neck. "I'm okay." he whispered again, breathing in Naruto's scent. In his heart, he was dying. He didn't want Naruto to age. Didn't want him to die. The day he died, Sasuke would cease to live. His own heart would cease to beat. He would be a shell and nothing more. "Naruto?"

"Yes?" his lover hummed, kissing his neck.

"Let's go outside." he decided, needing the distraction to take his mind off of the future. "Enjoy the Strip and the oddities we are bound to run into."

"Alright." Naruto grinned, pulling away to kiss him gently. "Let us clean ourself of our aroma, if you will. I rather not have everyone see you as I see you now."

"Which is?" Sasuke asked.

"Beautiful." Naruto grinned, kissing his blushing cheeks. "Shall we shower?"

"You first." Sasuke shook his head and pulled free of Naruto's hold. "If we go together, we won't leave at all." he added to explaine his reasoning.

"If you change your mind," Naruto said after a small hesitation, moving toward the bathroom. "you know where I'll be." he added just as he walked passed the door, leaving it a crack open. In the silence that followed, Sasuke heard the sound of the shower starting. With a sigh, he turned to his side and hugged the pillow that smelt so much like his lover.

How could Naruto, a human no less, come to mean so much to him? How could he already be in love with the other after only six days? How could he go on knowing he'd lose Naruto to age? He imagined his lover as an old man unable to do anything by himself and not like the strong healthy male he was today. Imagined his lover looking at him with death just waiting beside him. Imagined Naruto's last breath and that was what broke his heart.

Clenching his fist above his chest, Sasuke tried so hard not to cry. Tried so hard to breathe passed the lump growing in his throat. Tried so hard to pretend he wasn't silently sobbing over something he knew was doomed to begin with. In his eyes, fifty years always seemed to flash by. In a blink, his lover would be gone for good. When the sound of water stopped, Sasuke took a few deep breaths, wiping his eyes quickly as he moved to his bag to grab his clothes. When Naruto came back into the room, he kept his head turned away as he walked passed him, shutting the door before his lover could follow him.

Turning the water on, Sasuke jumped in, not really feeling if the water was cold or hot, not really caring as it rained upon him, wiping away the tears that couldn't stop falling. He couldn't change Naruto into an Immortal. Even if he wished to, Immortals were born not created. It wasn't like the books. A bite didn't create another of their kind, sharing blood did nothing but feed the Immortal and drain the human.

"Moonbeam?" Naruto called, knocking on the door. "Are you well?"

"I'm almost done." he called, making his voice sound as normal as he could. Scrubbing at his face, he made sure to wipe every inch, leaving no evidence to what he had been doing. After scrubbing the rest of his body and washing his hair, he turned off the water, pulling a towel around his waist as he grabbed another to wipe his face. Looking into the mirror, he saw that he had accomplished what he wanted.

_**' -' **_

They walked side by side, Sasuke's hand held gently but firmly within Naruto's own. His other hand wrapped around his lover's arm as his head rested against Naruto's shoulder. Their height difference making it easier and more comfortable. For a moment, as they made their way down the noisy sidewalk, the lights flashing everywhere, cars always moving, Sasuke imagined them as a mated pair. Imagined them living the rest of their lives like this. Two children -as was all their bodies could hold- born from his body, already starting families of their own. He imagined so hard that he almost made himself believe it was real.

But the sound of a taxi honking broke him from that dream. Brought him back to reality. His body would never carry Naruto's child. A human couldn't have a child with an Immortal. They were barren to the other race.

"Moonbeam?" Naruto called his name, pausing them against the long wall, allowing everyone to walk around them. "Are you well? Do you wish to go back?"

"I'm fine." Sasuke answered, forcing a smile, unable to do the same with his eyes.

"Tell me the truth, are you tired of me already?" Naruto asked softly.

"Never." Sasuke said honestly, leaning up to kiss Naruto's lips.

"Then what is wrong? Since before our showers, you-"

"I don't want this to stop." Sasuke stopped him, wrapping his arms around Naruto's waist. "I don't want to wake up and find you gone."

"I won't disappear, Moonbeam. You have me until the end." Naruto chuckled, kissing his head and running a soothing hand down his back. Not even knowing that his words broke Sasuke's heart. The end would come soon, and then Sasuke would be forced to let him go. Humans were fragile, their deaths could be caused by anything. Even something so simple as a mis-step. Just that thought put Sasuke on guard. His body already looking for any signs of a threat to his lover.

"I don't want an ending." Sasuke whispered into Naruto's chest. "I want you forever."

"As I you, Moonbeam," Naruto reassured him sadly, holding him close.

"Forever will come sooner then we wish." Sasuke said softly to himself, fighting back the tears that wished to fall.

"What was that, Moonbeam?" Naruto questioned.

"Nothing." Sasuke said louder, looking up to smile at Naruto. He'd cherish every moment of time he could get with his lover. Even if it was twenty or fourty years more, he'd cherish and remember it forever. "I-"

"Sasuke."

At the sound of his name, both turned to look toward the one that called him. Surprise didn't even cover the feeling running through Sasuke's blood. "Itachi?" he said finally, looking from his brother, to his brother's mate, Deidara, and then to his brother's best friend, Hidan, and Hidan's mate, Haku. All of them looking at him and Naruto with surprise. "What are you doing here?" he asked, moving away from the warmth of his lover and walking toward the other four.

"You wouldn't answer your phone. You ran off without telling anyone. You hung up unexpectantly. I grew worried and we came to see if you were alright." Itachi said, taking his arm and pulling him farther away from Naruto, making sure Naruto didn't follow.

"What are you doing with a human?" Deidara asked him, "You know the rules, no matter how lovely on the eyes, you have to avoid them unless you're feeding off them, and to keep them as a pet is against the laws."

"He isn't my pet!" Sasuke hissed, turning to find Naruto talking to four other people. Three men the same height and size as his own lover. Their bodies just as hard and commanding, just as strong and shocking. They made Itachi and Hidan seem small in comparison, and his brother and Hidan were anything but small. The last one with Naruto was a woman with long blue black hair and pale eyes, dainty compared to the rest of them. Whatever they were saying seemed to trouble Naruto. He kept shaking his head no, looking anywhere but his way. What were they telling him? Who were they?

"Sasuke!" Itachi snapped, bringing his eyes back to his brother. "You can't keep a human."

"I love him." Sasuke answered, shocking the others into silence.

"Sasuke..." Haku said finally.

"I love him and I don't want to lose him." Sasuke admitted. "I know our relationship is impossible, but I don't want to say good-bye to him. I love him so much."

"Sasuke you can't love a human!" Hidan growled. "They are nothing but food-"

"Naruto's different." Sasuke glared.

"Well he is big for a human as are his friends, but in the end that's what he is." Haku said softly. "Sasuke, you'll only bring yourself heartbreak. You won't ever have children... You'll lose him in half a century."

"I know, Haku, I can't explain what I'm feeling, just that I can't lose him. I want every minute I can have with him. I've never felt this before...if it wasn't for him being human, I...if he was one of us...this feeling I have, it makes me feel like we're a bonded pair."

"What if you were to run into your mate?"

"I won't." Sasuke answered honestly, never once believing that he could love anyone more then he loved Naruto.

"No...Sasuke, no." Itachi shook his head in shock. "Father-"

"If it means going against the nest, never having children, and losing him in the end, I don't care." Sasuke stopped his brother. "I love him. In the short time we met...no since the second I saw him, I loved him. Our worlds froze and everything just clicked into place. It was like I was a blind man before and then I was given the gift of sight. It wasn't black or white, but a whole swirl of colors." Sasuke finished, looking toward Naruto again, missing the shocked looks of his brother and the other three. Instead he was focused on the woman resting a dainty hand against Naruto's arm, bringing his eyes toward her. Whatever she said seemed to bring Naruto around.

Sasuke watched as his lover's shoulders slumpped in defeat, and his head bowed as if in pain. With a nod, Naruto let the woman take his arm, and pull him away from him.

"Naruto?" Sasuke called, moving toward his lover, fear clogged within his throat.

Pausing in step, ignoring the frowns of his friends, Naruto turned toward him. Gasping, Sasuke froze in place as he saw the blood tears falling from his lover's eyes. With a shake of his head, Naruto turned away completely, leaving Sasuke as he took off, fading and disappearing between the humans -none as tall as he- walking around, uncaring or unseeing of them. Stunned, Sasuke fell to his knees, his heart breaking in two.

When a shadow fell over him, blocking the light, he lifted his head and met the gaze of the beautiful woman.

"It is best this way," She said softly, cupping his cheek.

"I love him." he cried.

"Nay, you do not. You are besotted with him. It is the charm of one like him that makes it so." she smiled sadly. "In time you will realize this and come to forget him as should be done." with a nod toward him, the woman turned with the others.

"Naruto..." Sasuke gasped, allowing his brother to pull him into his arms, holding him close. Uncaring of anything around him, as he sobbed into his brother's neck, Naruto's name repeating over and over in his mind, his heart, his world.

_**' -' **_

"Are you alright, child?" his Mother asked him, again for the fifth night in a row. It had been one month since he had seen Naruto, since he had felt his lover's hands on his body. One month of agony that he wished away as he dreamed of Naruto. He had refused to leave his bed, and if not for the illness spreading through his body for the last five nights, he would have stayed in bed. Immortals were immune to illnesses, but Sasuke believed it was due to the fact that he refused to feed properly as he mourned the loss of his lover. If Naruto was an Immortal he would have thought...but he wasn't, he told himself. Naruto was human.

"I'm fine, Mother." he whispered, pulling the blanket tighter around his body. "I'm tired."

"Your brother told me of this human you met-"

"It's nothing." Sasuke cut her off, turning away from her, the mention of Naruto felt like a stab to the heart. "I'll feel better tomorrow."

After a small hesitation, his Mother left his room, closing the door behind her. In the silence that followed, Sasuke thought of his lover. How had Naruto cried blood? Was it a condition of his? Some would have said that it was a sign of god, but Sasuke didn't believe it. It had to be an illness his lover had, and that illness could have taken him away faster... "Naruto." he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut as he pictured Naruto's face.

"Uncle?" someone called as they knocked on his door. Already knowing who it was, Sasuke called for Shisui to enter.

Shisui was his brother's oldest, born seventy-five years before Sasuke. Though none could tell with everyone within their nest looking between twenty-five to thirty. It was weird to hear a man seventy-five years older then him call him uncle, especially when his nephew had even changed his soiled clothing and even watched over him back in the day when he was a child. He was at least here for his niece's, Suiren, birth, having already been one hundred and fourty-nine at the time.

"Uncle, I did as you asked." Shisui started, sitting down on the bed as Sasuke turned quickly to face him, clutching his head as everything blurred and left him dizzy. "Are you alright? What-"

"I'm fine, nephew." Sasuke said, watching the worry cross the other's face. "What did you find?" he asked as he pulled the file from Shisui's hands.

"I sent your blood samples to the lab, I marked it with the name you told me," Shisui started, his eyes looking somewhat stunned, "Uncle...Uncle you're-"

"Pregnant..." Sasuke gaped in shock as he reread the test over and over again. Was this right? He couldn't be pregnant, it had been almost a century since he bedded another Immortal. "Are you sure this is the right test?"

"Yes," Shisui nodded quickly. "Uncle, I had them do the test two more times with the same sample. They all came out the same."

"But that's...I haven't...But Naruto isn't one of us..." Sasuke said, running a hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face. He had asked Shisui to do this for him, since Shisui was the closest he had to a best friend within the nest. He cherished Haku and Deidara, but with those two being mated to Hidan and Itachi, he knew they would have spoken to their mates. Shisui would always keep everything he was asked to, a secret.

"I also looked into what you told me, Uncle," Shisui said looking toward the ground in guilt. "I know you told me in confidence about Naruto," his nephew went on, the only one using Naruto's name instead of calling him a human like everyone else seemed to do. "I found a few things about the red tears. There's a condition called Haemoloacria, where the tears are tinted red."

Nodding, Sasuke leaned back against his pillows and lifted his shirt, his hand gently rubbing his belly in awe. He was pregnant, but how? Was their kind evolving then? Could a human...could Naruto have fathered his child?

"But I don't think Naruto has it," Shisui went on, "Uncle, I think your Naruto is one of us."

"We don't cry blood." Sasuke said, not wishing to hope for something that might never be. If Naruto was Immortal...

"But there is a race of our kind that does. They are known as Travelers, Immortals without a home. Gypsies if you will." Shisui said. "They are never in the same place twice and are hard to find. They don't always travel with eachother, but in the end they all claim the same nest as their own. Many of our kind will never know if we'vd met them since they blend into human society so well. Uncle, if we can figure out where they'll appear, we'll find him."

"You are certain?" Sasuke asked, feeling his heart fluttering and tears gathering within his eyes.

"Yes, Uncle." Shisui nodded, smiling at him. "Everything you've described about Naruto, everything matches up to the Travelers. We'll find him Uncle. I promise you this."

"Thank you, Shisui." Sasuke laughed, pulling his nephew close and holding him tight. Joy of seeing Naruto again, of holding him, loving him. Naruto would never age, would never leave him. He could hold onto him forever and never have to fear losing him. "Thank you nephew."

_**' -' **_

"Father?" Sasuke called, waddling into his Father's office, a hopeful expression on his face. With only a week to go before the birth of his son, Sasuke was becoming desperate. He wanted Naruto to be there for it. To tell him everything would be alright as he commanded him to push. To look into his eyes, promising him it would all be worth it. He wanted Naruto beside him for their child's first cry. For their baby's first glimps of the world. He wanted to see his lover's tears durning the birth of their baby.

"We're still searching." Fugaku said, a sigh escaping as he moved away from the computer. "You were told not to leave your bed." he went on, an expression Sasuke knew all to well. For the last three weeks, he had been ordered to bedrest, his body to stressed, or so the doctor said, to move about. Sasuke felt fine, the little walks he took always seemed to make him feel better, but every walk ended in this destination, this answer.

"I know Father." he said, trying not to cry. He should know better then to believe Naruto was coming to him. The Travelers were a lot harder to track then everyone thought. Even if they blended with the humans, Sasuke's nest mates knew to look beneath the protrayed illusion, and look for the signs that marked them as Immortal. And with the description of Naruto and the other four, they were still one step behind them, having always seemed to miss them by days or months. Sometimes when Sasuke believed they almost found them, he'd feel the blow to the heart when he realized he was wrong.

"Sasuke, we'll find him." His Father reassured him.

"I'm beginning to doubt that." Sasuke whispered as he turned away from his Father's watchful eyes.

_**' - '**_

"Naruto," Hinata called out to him, her voice like music to anyone listening. Just hearing her speak, everyone would stop what they were doing, begging she'd say more. "You cannot do this to yourself."

"But I can, Lullaby." Naruto told her, sitting on the edge of the cliff, looking at the world beneath him. The lights from the city below twinkling like stars. But this wasn't the city he was seeing. He was seeing a city filled with life and death, filled with hope and despair. Filled with laughter and tears. He was seeing a city with his raven lover by his side. How a human could make him love him, he didn't know. He only knew he wanted Sasuke back. Wanted to love him tenderly and beautifully as he done before. Wanted to feel his touch, hear his voice that sent shivers down his spine. But he left him. Left his little moonbeam because it was best. To save his lover's life, to save his own insanity, Naruto had been selfish and ran.

"Naruto, you will find your happiness." Hinata said, moving to stand behind him. "You will find your mate, and live a life of-"

"Nay, I will not wait anymore." Naruto stopped her, his eyes filled with nothing but loneliness, heartbreak, and pain as he looked at her. "Lullaby, I have lived eight hundred years, every one searching for that glimmer that you speak of to us. I cannot find it. I am not meant to have it. He made me believe..."

"He was a human, Naruto." she said, not moving closer as his growing pain surrounded him like a blanket, keeping her back. She would never face the ache having found her own mate five years ago at only fourteen. "You wanted it so badly, you believed it. It would never have worked," she went on, hating to cause him such pain, hating how she added instead of removed it. "He would have aged while you stay'd the same. And what if you met your mate before then? Who would you choose? The one you're meant to be with or the human you believe you love? Would you sit and watch as your mate took another because you loved the human?"

"I do not know, Lullaby." Naruto admitted. "I cannot see into the future. I cannot predict what will happen next. Only if I make it so will I see...And I see my world...and I do not like it. Lullaby, I am tired. My soul longs for an ending as my heart demands the same."

"Nay, Naruto, please!" Hinata started, red tears building.

"You are luckly, Lullaby," Naruto smiled at her before turning away. "I wish you love and happiness for every year to come." Naruto said as the darkness began to surround him, covering him like smoke and taking him away into the moonless night. "Sing long, Lullaby." he whispered as he faded from sight.

"Naruto!" she screamed as she fell to her knees. From the day she was a baby, no more then a few months old, she had tried to save him. Tried to free him from his pain. Tried to stop this from becoming truth. All of the old ones faced this choice, some continuing on in search of something that may never be found. Some going mad. And some that finally believed they would never get the happiness that the youngers always seem to find. These would end their lives, going days without feeding, their body sinking into itself, making them weak. And when not an ounce of blood rested in their bodies, they'd move toward the sun, allowing their broken bodies to crumble to dust. In two weeks time, Naruto would follow them. Out of all the old ones, never would Hinata have thought that Naruto would do this. He was a warrior, a Traveler, and the thought without her teacher, her brother, brought tears to her eyes. "Naruto, please..." she sobbed into her hands, not even feeling when Shino comforted her. Not even seeing the looks of pain crossing the other Traveler's faces. Only seeing her failure.

_**' - '**_

Naruto gasped as pain filled his deteriorating body. Only a few more hours and it would all end. He should have already been dead. Should have already been gone and forgotten, but he had waited nine days. For every one of those days, he had thought of Sasuke. His beautiful moonbeam's image refusing to leave his mind. It was Sasuke's face that had kept him here. Once more he was being selfish. Once more he was...

He should let Sasuke go. His lover should make a life with someone that would love him. That would take care of him. Cherish him.

And just that thought brought his fangs full force. He wanted to kill anyone that dared touch his moonbeam. That dared even look at him. Sasuke was his!

"No." he croaked, his chapped lips cracking even more. Sasuke wasn't his. Could never be his.

Taking a breath that his body couldn't complete, Naruto looked down at his skeleton hands. His skin paper thin, looking as if it would crumble with one touch. He knew beneath the cloak he wore, the rest of his body looked the same. His hair was dry, feeling more like wire then anything else. What the rest of him looked like he couldn't tell, didn't wish to see. He may have been a coward for this, hiding his shame from his eyes, but every beginning had an ending, and his was coming soon. Not through war, as was done in the past, but by his own hands.

Clencing his fist, he watched as the skin pulled tightly, tearing over his knuckles.

It was time.

With slow steps of an old man, Naruto moved shakily toward the entrance of the cave, the morning sun trying and failing to enter farther.

Pushing the cloak off his shoulders, leaving only the now loose pants he wore in place, he stumbled, barely keeping his footing as he paused inches before the light. With Sasuke's image on his mind, a prayer for his lover to the gods, he took the last step.

_**' - '**_

"You," Itachi called out in shock, having just stumbled on one of the men he remembered seeing with Naruto.

"Who are you?" the brunet growled, the fangs on his face enhancing his expression to a more beastly kind. The man beside him paused, looking as if he wasn't sure to intervine or stay behind the giant.

"I've been searching for you," Itachi said quickly, moving toward them, making sure that Deidara stayed put the small distance away.

"Search elsewhere." the giant snarled, as he turned.

"I'm looking for Naruto." Itachi said, freezing the man in place.

"You are too late," the other, smaller man said. "He is gone."

"Enough Shikamaru." the fanged man growled, taking his hand and pulling him along.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Itachi demanded. "He can't be gone. We've been searching for him-"

"What do you not understand? You are too late! He is gone! He walks no more amongst us!"

"Kiba, please," Shikamaru whispered, turning away to hide his pain.

"Tell me. Explain what is happening. Naruto can't be gone. He is needed."

"Who needs a Traveler? We do nothing of importance-"

"My brother carries his child." Itachi stopped Kiba mid-rant.

"He what?" Kiba gaped in shock, unsure if he heard right. "That is not possible. Naruto would never have left his mate, not after he waited eight hundred years for him."

"My brother, Sasuke, is days away from bringing forth his son."

"Sasuke?" Shikamaru whispered, "But that cannot be. Naruto said that Sasuke was a human. He would know the difference from a human and an immortal."

"Sasuke believed that Naruto was human too." Itachi said. "Sasuke ran from the nest and pretended to be human, both believing the other's lie. Now tell me where he is. Sasuke wishes him near for the birth of their first child."

"Oh god, it is my fault." Kiba said, his eyes filled with pain as he fell to his knees, his body unable to do otherwise. "I made him leave, we all did. Naruto wanted to stay but...we believed he was only forcing it...trying so hard to build...Ancestors, I have failed my greatest friend."

"What are you saying?" Deidara asked, moving toward Itachi's side.

"Naruto met the sun." Shikamaru answered in Kiba's place.

_**' - '**_

"It hurts," Sasuke panted, gripping the railings on the side, the bars molding to his fingers.

"Breathe," his Mother told him gently, running a wet towel over his brow. "One deep breath, child. One at a time."

"Naruto, I want...Naruto..." He said, the pain lacing his words. "...Please..." He couldn't do this without Naruto. He couldn't have his baby alone. He wanted Naruto. Wanted his lover to be there with him. To hold him and comfort him. Not his Mother. Not anyone else. He wanted only Naruto. "Nar-AH!" he screamed in pain, begging for this to end. Begging for the baby to wait a moment longer for his father to come.

He wasn't sure how long he had been in labor. He remembered it being early morning, two hours before the sun rose, and then it blurred. There were no windows for him to judge the time. The sun would have been too dangerous for the newborn to even last a moment within the light rays. It would be a week before his child could see the sun with his own eyes.

"One more breath, child, its almost time." his mother went on, but her words meant little to him as did the mid-wife's words. He couldn't even remember her name, though she was the one that brought him, Itachi, and Itachi's children to life.

"N-no! Naru-Narutoooo!" He screamed again as another contraction him him again.

"The babe is crowning." he heard someone say. "You need to push now, Sasuke, you'll kill the babe if you don't."

"Naruto!" He gasped out, arching his back, telling the baby mentally to hold on for a few more minutes.

"Push." someone whispered the command in his ear.

Opening his pain filled eyes, Sasuke gazed into familiar blue ones. For a moment he stopped breathing as he looked at his lover. The longing to see him, the need for him bringing tears to his eyes. "Naruto." he said softly.

"Push, Moonbeam." Naruto said again, kissing him softly, "Don't stop until it is over."

With a shaky nod, Sasuke reached out one hand to grasp Naruto's. Without another word, his eyes refusing to leave Naruto's own, he pushed.

_**' - '**_

"He is beautiful." Naruto smiled at the little bundle in his right arm, as he sat on the bed. In his left, Sasuke snuggled closer to his lover, holding him tightly with his own body as he smiled lovingly at his baby boy. His body long forgetting the pain he went through for his son. Already, everything within him was healing and in another few hours, he'd be as if he never had a child. "Your genes carried over to him."

"He'll be a heartstopper." Sasuke laughed gently, kissing Naruto's clothed chest as his eyes stayed on his son.

"Like his Mother." Naruto chuckled, turning to look at Sasuke. "I have waited forever for you, Sasuke."

Lifting his gaze, Sasuke gasped at the emotion he saw in his lover's eyes.

"Century after century, I have looked. I looked until I ached. Until I was ready to fall to pieces. When we chanced upon that city, I was not expecting anything anymore. I told myself I was not meant to have someone such as you. I was not supposed to be in that hotel. I had another one that was booked for me. Yet I did not go to it. Instead, for some reason, I joined you in yours. When the elevator opened, I was stunned to see you coming out. I did not think beyond you. For six days, I was finally in paradise."

"Me too." Sasuke said, lifting his hand to wipe at the bloody tear falling from Naruto's right eye. "I didn't care if you were human or not. I wanted to be with you."

"Aye, I felt the same way. I wanted you and no one else. I would have done anything to keep you."

"Then why did you leave me?" Sasuke asked softly.

"I...I thought I was doing right by you. I did not want you to waste your life on me, on someone with me. I, I suppose I did not want you to hate me in the end. I ran to save my own pain to come."

"Why would I hate you?"  
"I would not age." Naruto explained. "I would be the same..."  
"I would love you regardless of change." Sasuke smiled, wishing to ease the ache his mate seemed to carry like a second skin.

"I had planned to stay." Naruto went on, looking toward their son. "I told myself that I would follow you into death. I did not care for anything beyond having you. Hinata...she told me of why it would all be wrong. She told me that my mate would suffer alone as I lived in happiness with you. She told me that I could never love you as I wanted, as you needed. That my heart would never fully be yours. She told me that in the end, three people would suffer. I did not wish to hurt you. I did not wish to take my anger out on you as she said."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke almost growled, wanting to strangle this Hinata. He knew that she was only trying to save them all heartbreak, but because of her, they had been parted for nine months. Nine months that would never be theirs again. Nine months that Naruto would never be part of as their baby grew. He would be there for their next child, but never again for their first. Maybe in time he'd come to like her, but right now he hated her.

"I did not want to...If I were to find my mate, I would not be able to claim them, because my heart belonged to you. She knew my loyalty would hold me to you, making it impossible for me to claim them. She did not want me to suffer." Naruto smiled without humor, not looking as if he was seeing anything. "She told me I had already suffered much in the eight centuries I have lived and did not want me to end my life doing such. Instead she caused me more pain. If not for her finding me, pushing me back before I could meet the sun, I would have lost you for good. I struggled but was too weak to stop her as she kept me alive."

"Is she close to you?" Sasuke said, wanting to know how soon he would have to forgive her, not wanting to think about Naruto's words. The thought of almost losing Naruto...Oh gods, Naruto. Blinking quickly, Sasuke turned away, not wanting Naruto to see him cry.

"She kept me sane for the twenty years she has lived." Naruto nodded. "She kept me alive long after I wanted it to end."

"I suppose I have to...like her." Sasuke pouted hating to do that, trying in vane to be rid of the image of Naruto crumbling to dust.

"It would please me yes, but I will not force you." Naruto said. "I find myself very much annoyed and angry with her. She knows this and stays away."

"So how long will she stay away?"

"Until I go searching for her." Naruto shrugged. "In truth, I do not plan to search at all."

"Wh-what?"

"I plan to give up my Traveler ways." Naruto said, making Sasuke look at him. "If you will have me, I wish to stay by your side. To join your nest and care for our son and create another years from now."

"Always." Sasuke grinned, kissing his lover.

"I love you, moonbeam."

"I love you, Naruto, but I wish to live in the city that brought us together."

"You wish to raise our child in sin?" Naruto chuckled.

"Only if you're with me." Sasuke pulled him close, his hand holding onto the back of Naruto's blonde locks. "Make a new nest with me?"

"So long as you become my wife."

_**' - '**_

"Mother, must you do that with me in the room?" Madara asked, looking green in the face as his eyes quickly turned away from his Mother and his new three week old baby brother, Izuna. At only a hundred and eighteen, Madara had been told he would finally become a big brother. It was weird to think of another sharing his parents, but he knew both his Mother and Father were wishing for another child. He was old enough to not feel jealous. He was lucky to have his parents everyday of his life and he didn't mind someone else sharing the experience that he was graced with.

"Madara," Sasuke smirked in amusement, "I believe I was already in the room when you entered."

"Yes but that's beside the point." Madara said, finally turning completely away, a blush on his face when he realized he couldn't stop looking at his baby brother suckling from their Mother, drops of blood and milk escaping his tiny mouth. It was kind of revolting to think that he did the same thing for the first year of his life. He could just imagine the pain his Mother went through as Izuna's fangs pierced around his nipple, taking both liquids at once, and yet his Mother didn't seem to feel the pain. "Can you at least cover him?"

"He's enjoying the sun light."

"_Mother._" Madara stressed.

"Is there something you needed?" Sasuke asked his son, reaching for the thin blanket to cover Izuna, tossing the end over his shoulder. "He's covered."

"I was looking for Father."

"It's the third Sunday of the month, Madara. Your Father is having his monthly web talk with your Uncle."

"What more can they talk about?" Madara frowned, looking toward the wall, trying to see his Father three rooms down. "They've had more than a thousand talks about history, how much more is there? I know he and Uncle are only a few months apart, but surely they lived practically the same life."

"Not at all. Your Uncle was born within a planted nest. Your Father was Traveler born. Their differences make much to talk about." Sasuke laughed as Madara turned toward him, his eyes checking to see if Izuna was really covered.

"So I've noticed." Madara said pointing to his eyes. Like his Father, he gained the tears of blood born to a Traveler. And like his Father, he felt a need to see more then what was there in front of him. To travel constantly. His blood boiled with the need to walk on and never stop. But much like his Mother, he wanted his family close and a never changing scenery. Travelers didn't always stay together. His Father's own Travelers, always changed. They grouped together if they were heading the same way, or they separated if they weren't.

So to get the best of both worlds, Madara would travel with his Father's old nest for a few months out of the year and then return home when he wanted planted roots more. "Mother?"

"Hm?" Sasuke hummed as he patted Izuna's bottom when his son tried to remove the blanket.

"Do you think Father misses traveling?" If he missed it when he was home, just as he missed home when he was traveling, his Father had to have missed it as well, right?

"I'm sure he does." Sasuke nodded, losing the amusement of moments before. "He looks out the window each morning and his eyes seem to see more then what mine do."

"Do you think he'll ever travel with me?"

"If you asked, he wouldn't say no." Sasuke admitted.

"But he wouldn't be happy." Madara finished for him. His Father loved his Mother too much to go long periods without his Mother by his side. His Mother had tried traveling years ago, a few years after they settled in Las Vegas, when he saw his Father pacing from room to room, over and over again for hours at a time. Madara remembered a brief time when they did travel. It wasn't a clear memory, but he still had images of different land marks. His Mother said that his Father had been happy and Sasuke didn't mind seeing new worlds. But then his Father had brought them back to Vegas, never telling his Mother why. Madara knew that his Mother was still as clueless as he was back then to the change and his Father would only smile his small smile and avoid the question completely.

"I think I figured out why he stays." his Mother said thoughtfully as he adjusted Izuna under the blanket, changing his baby brother to his other nipple, revealing the first. Madara could only stare in stunned silence. His Mother's nipple was chewed raw, looking nothing of what it was supposed to look like. It looked as if someone had stabbed repeatedly in that one area. "Izuna is hungry today." his Mother smiled lovingly at his brother, licking his own finger and then rubbing his spit over the ruined tissue.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Madara asked as the wound slowly healed itself with his Mother's spit.

"No," Sasuke laughed at the disbelief on Madara's face. "I speak the truth, Madara. In all honestly, it feels like a slight pinch and then nothing. Izuna heals it as he feeds."

"Then why is it like that?" Madara asked intrigued.

"Because his saliva isn't strong enough to heal. It only numbs. Now do you wish to hear my reasoning or do you wish to discuss my nipples all day?" Sasuke asked, laughing as Madara blushed and sputtered, pulling his open shirt down to cover his exposed chest to ease the teasing.

"_Mother!_"

"I couldn't resist." Sasuke continued to laugh.

"Moonbeam, you are not teasing my Ebony, are you?" his Father said, using the only nickname Madara would allow anyone to call him, but only his Father was given the privilage of saying it outloud.

"Mother is being disgusting." Madara narrowed his eyes at said person, as he hugged his Father, gaining a kiss on the forehead for that. Like everyone else in his blood family, Madara was shorter then his Father. Other then Kiba, Gaara, Shino, and his Granddad Minato, no one had yet to go pass his Father's nose.

"We were only speaking." Sasuke grinned, kissing Naruto when his lover bent down toward him, lingering for a few moments as Madara cleared his throat forcefully. "You should check with your doctor, that sore throat might be life threatening."

"The only life threatening thing to my health is your enjoyment at embarrasing me." Madara grumbled, looking away again when his Father uncovered his brother to kiss his little head. "Father, Mother thinks he's figured out why you stay here and not move on like all Travelers."

"Did he now?" Naruto mused, sitting back on his hunches to meet Sasuke's gaze. "Tell me, Moonbeam, why do I stay instead of travel?"

"Because even in a million lifetimes, you will never see all of Vegas, there is always something new to explore. Things are always changing and you love it all the more because you won't see anything exactly the same." Sasuke answered. "Am I right?"

Instead of answering, Madara saw that small smile his Father always gave in answer.

"Naruto?"

With a chuckle, his Father lifted Izuna -when his baby brother finally pulled away from his Mother and reached out toward him- wiping the little drops of bloody milk away from his mouth, and sucking it into his own mouth as he did so.

"Naruto?"

"Come Moonbeam, let us explore the world around us." his Father grinned over his shoulder, putting an arm around Madara to steer him out of the room. Behind them, Madara heard his Mother demanding an answer.

"Is he right, Father?" Madara asked, taking Izuna in his arms, watching in happiness as his Father turned and brought his Mother into his arms, kissing him soundly. The love his Father and Mother had... Madara couldn't wait to find a love like that for his own. Someday he'd be lucky and find the one to complete his soul, until then, he'd enjoy what he had and love the family that loved him too. "I suppose we won't get an answer, yet." he told his gurgling little brother, patting his back to burp him. "But I think Mother is on to something, when you're older, little brother, we'll figure it out."

"Naruto, answer me!" his Mother demanded, pulling away, though it did little since he was still holding onto his Father.

"I already have, Moonbeam." his Father answered, kissing him again, laughing at the confusion on their faces as he moved away again. "Now come let us put your theory to the test, Moonbeam."

"I love that man." Sasuke chuckled, taking Izuna from Madara's hold to follow after his mate. Behind him, he heard Madara mumbling something about parents being lovey dovey in front of him be wrong in all forms of nature.


End file.
